Scott
Puritan Board Graduate
Is the Toy Story an atheist parable?
Perhaps. I watched it last night and noted much of what he ws saying. I did not pick up on some of the things, like Buzz trying to radio star command as being analogous to prayer.
the scenes with the little green alien toys I think is clear and right on the mark.
Let me offer a different perspective. Buzz and Woody are dolls. They are images of people. Throughout the story their goal (and this is more Woody, the cowboy, than Buzz) is to obtain the real person's (Andy, the child) love. So we have an image of a person finding meaning and purpose in the love of a real person. Meaning for a toy must transcend the toy world, or the world of image, into what the toy is an image of (a person). Sounds like man (the image of God) finding meaning in the real thing, God.
Both Woody and Buzz are marked with their owner's name. "Andy" is inscribed on the the sole's of their shoes. This is similar to baptism, when someone is marked out as belonging to Christ.
In the scene where Buzz despairs in Sid's bedroom, Buzz is given hope when he sees his owner's name -- "Andy" -- written on the bottom of his foot. He remembers *whose* toy he is.
Someone had mentioned the atheist parable thing to me, which is what made me watch the movie. I was 90 percent sure that at the end Woody would have determined that he did not need to find meaning in the love of Andy. Rather he could create his own meaning or something like that. That would have sealed the movie as an atheist story for me. But I was wrong, Woody in the end is reunited with Andy and this is shown as a good thing.
Thoughts?
[Edited on 3-16-2006 by Scott]
Perhaps. I watched it last night and noted much of what he ws saying. I did not pick up on some of the things, like Buzz trying to radio star command as being analogous to prayer.
the scenes with the little green alien toys I think is clear and right on the mark.
Let me offer a different perspective. Buzz and Woody are dolls. They are images of people. Throughout the story their goal (and this is more Woody, the cowboy, than Buzz) is to obtain the real person's (Andy, the child) love. So we have an image of a person finding meaning and purpose in the love of a real person. Meaning for a toy must transcend the toy world, or the world of image, into what the toy is an image of (a person). Sounds like man (the image of God) finding meaning in the real thing, God.
Both Woody and Buzz are marked with their owner's name. "Andy" is inscribed on the the sole's of their shoes. This is similar to baptism, when someone is marked out as belonging to Christ.
In the scene where Buzz despairs in Sid's bedroom, Buzz is given hope when he sees his owner's name -- "Andy" -- written on the bottom of his foot. He remembers *whose* toy he is.
Someone had mentioned the atheist parable thing to me, which is what made me watch the movie. I was 90 percent sure that at the end Woody would have determined that he did not need to find meaning in the love of Andy. Rather he could create his own meaning or something like that. That would have sealed the movie as an atheist story for me. But I was wrong, Woody in the end is reunited with Andy and this is shown as a good thing.
Thoughts?
[Edited on 3-16-2006 by Scott]
